Shedeur Sanders enters the 2025 NFL Draft as one of the biggest names on the board – but why is the Colorado quarterback seemingly dividing opinion?
Sanders had once been deemed a likely No 1 overall pick, however that honour now appears destined to belong to Miami play-caller Cam Ward when the Draft gets under way on Thursday night.
The 23-year-old is no stranger to the pressure and expectations that loom in the NFL, having spent his college career playing under father and NFL legend Deion Sanders, who served as his head coach at both Jackson State and Colorado.
In a year supposedly short of blue-chip quarterback talent, Sanders has emerged as one of the most difficult projections.
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“You look at everything when you’re talking about drafting in the first round,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Jeff Reinebold on Inside the Huddle. “Shedeur Sanders has spotless character, you’re going to get a guy who is used to the spotlight but is not too big for it.
“But you’re also going to get Deion, and this is the same guy who said earlier in the year, ‘I’m gonna tell the NFL where my son is gonna play’. Well, Deion, as big a star as you are, and you’re one of the biggest in the galaxy, you don’t choose where your son gets to play – it doesn’t work that way.
“Deion knows that, it’s his desire to be front and centre, and you’re going to get Deion when you get Shedeur.
“Frankly, I think there are teams that look at this quarterback class and go, ‘nah, that is a factor in our decision’ – and he has already on most of the boards slid, and some people said out of the first round if certain things don’t happen for him.”
Sanders finished the 2024 season 353 of 477 passing for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns to 10 interceptions while going 9-4 as starter.
Across his entire collegiate career, he completed 1,263 of 1,803 passes for 14,327 yards and 134 touchdowns to just 27 picks with a completion percentage of 70.1 and a rating of 158.4.
There are few, if any, players in the entire draft that will enter the league with more belief in their own ability to lead a franchise to success than Sanders. He is the ultimate competitor and armed with outstanding touch and accuracy, but is doubted over his ability to create off-script and out of the pocket in the style that has become prevalent across the modern NFL.
“I think it’s really a shame, we just got done talking about Aaron Rodgers and the media split that is Aaron Rodgers,” said Reinebold. “Do you want to take on all of that in addition to a guy, frankly, when you watch him play quarterback, he has been sacked an unbelievable amount of times?
“He’s not a great athlete in the pocket, he’s a good athlete in the pocket. When you watch him, and again he’s had a former NFL head coach as his offensive coordinator at Colorado and he’s taken as many stacks as any quarterback in the country.
“There’s a reason for that. Part of it is he holds the ball trying to make big plays. You will learn very quickly, when you get up there with those big guys, you better get that thing out of your hands.
“Secondly, when you watch it, it’s like some of his inability to see where the rush is coming from and there’s a little bit of a scheme issue at Colorado, they’re not great on the offensive line. You want championship quarterback pedigree.
“When you strip back all of it and look, and these guys are paid to look, there’s an awful lot of things that make you go, ‘hmm’. I love the kid and what he’s been able to do with the circus that’s around him every day is phenomenal, but I also understand the clubs and why you would have some concerns.”
While certain analysts have mocked Sanders landing with the New York Giants as the third overall pick, there have also been suggestions he could yet become an option for the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 21st pick.
NFL Network Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah suggested Sanders lacked the ‘elite size, arm strength and athleticism’ – but how will the rest of the NFL view him?
“So I feel when you watch him in the pocket, he has a super calm demeanour, nice rhythm and he’s got incredible accuracy,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Phoebe Schecter.
“So I think those parts are really key, and to your point because it’s such a small quarterback pool, he is going to go much higher than what he would actually fall under because we’ve got so many other skills positions that would definitely sit above him.
“I think that’s what makes him such an interesting prospect, you’ve got the noise around him, his dad again who has been peddling him to everyone, the Cowboys talking about him earlier on in the offseason, the Steelers there and of course the Giants now.
“You need to be able to calm the noise and just look at the skill set he actually has, I mean he only has 10 interceptions this past season so that’s a key point for him looking from a quarterback perspective.
“But yeah, I don’t rate him as the highest guy.”
Watch all three days of the 2025 NFL Draft live on Sky Sports Action, beginning with Round One from 1am in the early hours of Friday morning.
